John Charles Gilkey


John Charles Gilkey is a prolific book and document thief who has stolen approximately US$200,000 worth of rare books and manuscripts. Gilkey used Modern Library's List of 100 Best Novels as a guide to what items he would steal. His motives for the thefts were personal: he saw an expansive library as a sign of being upper-class.
Gilkey used bad checks and stolen credit card numbers gained through his employment at Saks Fifth Avenue in San Francisco. He did not consider that he stole books; instead he would talk about "doing business" with the dealers from whom he stole items. Allison Hoover Bartlett, who wrote The Man Who Loved Books Too Much chronicling Gilkey's thefts and methods, stated that he felt he deserved the books. She also noted that Gilkey would tell her the details of a theft after the statute of limitations on that crime had expired.
After a sting operation in 2003 orchestrated by Ken Sanders, a rare book dealer in Salt Lake City, Gilkey served 18 months in San Quentin beginning the following year.
He was arrested again on December 15, 2010, in San Francisco for stealing two antique maps.
Gilkey was the subject of an episode of the podcast Criminal.